


Pure Trouble

by sleepylotus



Category: Good Girls (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 00:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14658999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepylotus/pseuds/sleepylotus
Summary: The thought of having a Tupperware party as a side hustle after the excitement of smuggling fake cash over the border was just too damn depressing…After the little keys to the face fiasco, Rio seeks Beth out before she does something really stupid. He’d known from the start this red head would be pure trouble…





	Pure Trouble

# Pure Trouble

“I feel like we had some miscommunication last we talked."

Beth jumped at the sound of Rio's voice as she walked into her kitchen, nearly dropping her armful of groceries. Her heart hammered in her chest as she beheld him sitting at her kitchen table. 

Was this how it all ended? At least the kids were at school—maybe he would have the grace not to leave her body for her family to find on the hardwood floor, at least. She looked for the ever-present gold plated gun, but strangely did not see it. Usually it was like a third party to their conversations, casually sitting out on the counter or the table or the seat of the booth…

"I thought you were pretty clear," she said, swallowing her fear. "You don't want me anymore."

It hurt like a knife to the heart to say it, but there was no reason to mince words now.

Rio stroked the sharp line of his jaw in contemplation, his dark eyes boring into her. He seemed to be holding back, again.

Finally he spoke, "You know there ain't a man alive who disrespected me the way you did, Elizabeth." He clearly meant the keys to the face, and she pressed her lips. She'd regretted that the instant they left her hand—but he’d made her so _angry_. "But here you are."

He gave her that look. The silent _ya feel me_ with which he expected her to connect the dots without further words said. But she was tired of guessing his meaning.

"Yeah, for now."

Rio frowned, truly annoyed for one flashing moment. "I ain’t gonna hurt you, Red. So don't do anything stupid, like discuss my business with FBI agents, yeah?"

He stood as though to leave through the back door, and through the rushing flood of relief Beth suddenly and _desperately_ wanted him to stay a little longer, even if just to fight.

"Why are you letting me go?" she demanded, dropping her groceries down on the table with a thunk.

He froze in place, and rotated his neck as though she was a cramp he could crack from his spine.

If only it could be that easy.

Somehow this woman got under his _skin,_ like ink in a tattoo. That shit don’t wash out.

Slowly he turned, his hands in his pockets.

"Why you think?"

A laugh escaped her. A crazy little bark of mirth that she immediately tried to hold in with a hand over her mouth. “I don’t know,” she admitted honestly, shaking her head. “It seems like the men in my life who I think care for me have a tendency to turn around and discard me, so…I don’t know what to think anymore.”

Rio’s stare did not lighten. “I ain’t your husband.”

Beth blinked rapidly, shooing an annoying gloss of tears from her eyes. “I am well aware.”

He was the opposite of Dean in every way, which she supposed was part of this insane attraction she felt towards him.

Rio took another step closer, and Beth felt her heart lodge in her throat. _Come closer,_ she found herself pleading in her mind, and she knew she really had lost her mind.

“I ain’t _discarding_ you because I want to fuck my secretary or whatever dumb shit he pulled on you.” She didn’t even wonder how he knew about that. He had his ways of finding out all sorts of things, it seemed.

But of course he wasn’t. Could she be any more ridiculous? They’d had a professional relationship and she’d ruined it by lashing out because—she’d thought it had been _more_. She hadn’t even been able to admit it to herself until that moment, but that was the crux of it plain and simple. She’d proved she couldn’t conduct herself under a little pressure—so he was letting her go.

_Just business._

The irony was that if anyone but him had put her through that she would have just gritted her teeth and done the job. This man had gotten under her skin too, and now she was a mess.

Beth closed her eyes and nodded, unable to take the weight of his stare upon her anymore. She was pathetic and maybe he’d be nice enough to just disappear without pointing that out to her in too much detail. It was one o’clock in the afternoon, but she _really_ needed a drink.

“You don’t belong in my world, Elizabeth, and I’m givin’ you an out before you really get yo’self hurt.” By the sound of his voice she knew he was standing right in front of her now, but she still couldn’t bring herself to open her eyes. “Sell some Pampered Chef or somethin’. Ain’t that what you basic bi—” He stopped himself from using the B word, and Beth found the courage to open her eyes just in time to see him clench his jaw. He amended with some effort, “What _ladies_ like you do?”

She laughed at that, knowing she sounded like a broken thing. The thought of having a _Tupperware party_ as a side hustle after the excitement of smuggling fake cash over the border was just too damn depressing.

“Yeah, but the pay is shit.”

Beth loved her children, but god damn if she wasn’t bored to hell with her life. She looked around her ridiculously huge perfect McMansion of a house, and shook her head as her future loomed very real and bleak in front of her eyes. There was no more hope of a silver lining, with unfathomable amounts of cash to be made dancing in the future. The excitement she’d been riding with this little adventure was _gone._

“I’m going to have to sell this house,” she thought aloud. “That will get the bank off our back _a little bit,_ except my idiot husband mortgaged it _three times over_ to cover some bad investments he made. After he spent all our savings. _Without asking me_. What kind of bank in their right mind would even _let_ someone borrow against themselves like that? _We’re_ the criminals?” She laughed to herself, looking at her lovely pressed tile ceiling as she divined her future. “And I can’t even divorce him, because that costs money, which I’m going to need for the kids. I can’t trust Dean to provide for us, but I can’t get a _good_ job because rather than taking the _full ride_ I had to Anne Arbor for being a straight A student, I got married and became a housewife right out of high-school.” She shook her head at herself—at the naïve young thing she’d once been. “I _never_ thought things would turn out this way, but you knew with one _look_ at Dean’s picture that he wasn’t trustworthy. How did you know?”

When she finally had the courage to meet Rio’s eyes again she expected to see disdain for the silly little susie homemaker who’d painted herself in a corner. What she found, however, was something alarmingly bordering on compassion. “I been around, Red,” he answered. “I just know a slippery motherfucker when I see one.”

Beth wasn’t sure if the strangled sound that flew out of her mouth was a laugh or a sob. Embarrassed as hell, she covered her mouth and turned from Rio. Just a moment ago she’d desperately wanted him to stay, but now she wished he would go so she could have a good cry in peace with no one to see.

He didn’t make a sound, and he didn’t exactly touch her, but Beth could _feel_ the line of his body at her back as he stepped into her personal space. It took every _iota_ of self-control she possessed not to lean back into the solid pillar of his lean form. His voice came low by her ear as he spoke over her shoulder. “And I know when I meet someone who got real grit, even if they is a mild-mannered housewife on the outside.”

Beth found herself holding her breath, a tremor running down her spine. Was he actually _praising_ her?

“So all those reasons you just named off to me—that’s why you’re gonna do as you’re told and not question me every damn minute when I tell you to do something from now on. You gonna trust me and we’ll clean up, yeah?”

A long exhale deflated Beth’s lungs. “You’re taking me back?”

“Just don’t throw keys in my face in front of my boys again. What we say between us is one thing but I can’t lose face like that, feel me?”

Slowly Beth turned, clasping her lower lip between her teeth. She’d thought they _had_ been alone, but maybe there were cameras on the loading dock? It didn’t matter. She’d done a _stupid_ thing that only felt good for about 2.5 seconds. She couldn’t afford to be so childish when the stakes were this high.

Furthermore, she’d _hurt_ Rio. No matter how many times he’d threatened her—for pure theater, she was suspecting more and more—he’d never actually laid his hands on her.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, reaching up to lightly touch the corner of his mouth. From this close she could see it was bruised and a little swollen. The crazy impulse gripped her to kiss it better, but she restrained herself.

_This was a business relationship._

The fact that she felt like a cat in heat around him was her problem.

And the fact that he had a tendency to stand too close and look deeply into her eyes like he could see straight to her soul…

_Shit._

Perhaps because she’d touched him first, Rio reached up to lightly chuck her under the chin, and all it took was that one little bit of contact to send a thrill marching down her spine. “I’ve had worse.” He narrowed his eyes, but a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. Inside, she felt herself melt a little. “You make me a little crazy too, Mamma. What am I gonna do with you?”

Her stomach did a small somersault as about ten-thousand answers came to mind, none of which were fit to print in anything but the letters page of _Penthouse_ magazine.

It took two tries to find her voice. “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

Rio chuckled darkly, and Beth felt her knees consider giving out from under her. “Yeah, I think I will.” He backed off, and she felt the absence of the heat of his body so close to hers like a missing limb.

_Christ, she had it bad._

“I’ll be back with a stack of cash to clean soon, yeah?”

She smiled, biting her lip in anticipation. “Yeah.”

He paused one last time at the door to look back at her, pursing his lips as he gave her that panty-melting look up and down. Shaking his head, he paid her that infuriating half smile. He said something under his breath before disappearing out the door, and only later after much rumination did she realize he’d called her _pure trouble._

This time, Rio didn’t exactly sound mad about it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! If you leave me a comment I'll send you pure love! LOL. 
> 
> Also, is there a big tumblr following for this show? I've seen some good gifsets. If you see apirateslifeforme123 keysmashing about Brio that's me. Leave me your handle in the comments and I'll follow you. <3


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